Elevate: Three Ways To Stay On Your Toes

You’re great, Creative Executive. But how do you elevate and continue to grow?

Here are three steps to be the best version of you.

Seek feedback from others.

Honest feedback – yes, the critical kind – is essential for growth. Friends, coworkers, and family are all valuable resources for how you project yourself into the world.

In an article in Forbes, Joe Folkman described a study on leadership effectiveness and team engagement and how closely aligned they are with the request for regular feedback. Those who ranked in the top 10% for asking for feedback ranked in the 86th percentile for effectiveness. The numbers were similarly striking on engagement.

So, ask for feedback. And make sure you’re ready to receive it. Take it graciously and use it as fuel for growth.

Analyze yourself outside of your daily environment.

Get out of your office and the noise, and take a good honest look at yourself. Have you ever found yourself giving valuable advice to a friend and when it came out of your mouth you thought, “hell, that’s great advice!” Veering outside the normal mechanics of your typical day allows you to look at yourself from the outside in – like you would that friend or colleague. You have to be able to observe yourself without being under the influence of the stress of your daily grind. Here are some quick ways to escape without breaking your budget or cashing in a ton of vacation time. Not that we aren’t strong advocates for life-changing trips. Those are great too!

Understand where you are, at this moment.

This may well be the hardest of the three exercises. You’ve got tons of ideas swirling around in your brain, you’ve got big plans, and little time and space. Sitting back and being present in the moment of where you are now is a tough task. Here’s a step-by-step guide to marrying your past with your present in order to get to this nugget of wisdom.

We ask our clients to answer these hard questions every day. Without this consistent stream of questioning and self-analysis, it’s impossible to elevate.

Interested in undertaking this process alongside fellow female creative leaders? Join us for three days in November, where we’ll help you put all the pieces together in a relaxing and restorative environment. Take some time out from your day-to-day to focus on the personal and professional you. If elevation is your goal for 2016, this is the perfect launch pad!